Broadcasting (Oct 1931-Dec 1932)

BILLY MILLS, formerly musical supervisor and producer for the Public and National theaters in Chicago, is now with WBBM, Chicago, handling the Marlboro cigarette program, among others. WBBM also reports that record sales of 10,000 during the first week have been achieved with Frank Westphal's song, "How Can I Go On Without You," which he wrote for the CBS "Myrt and Marge" program. Westphal is director of the WBBM studio orchestra. JOHN AND NED, harmony team, who left NBC, San Francisco, for a commercial at KFI, Los Angeles, have rejoined KGO's staff. They replace Tom and Dudd, who are out. ANDY ANDREWS, singing comedian, has joined the staff of KFRC, San Francisco. He was formerly with Jimmie Joy's band. NATHAN ABAS has succeeded Rex Dunn as musical conductor of NBC, San Francisco. CHARLES WELLMAN, who at one time managed KFWB, Hollywood, but has been heard over many stations as an entertainer, early in December joined the staff of KFI, Los Angeles, to be heard three times a week in a song prgram. ROSEMARY GLOSS, lyric soprano, early in December signed with KFI, Los Angeles, to be heard as soloist with studio symphony in a series of Sunday concert hours. She made her debut six years ago at the Opera Comique in Paris. CBS Artists Bureau has placed under contract Mary Eastman, opera and operetta star, who will be heard in a series of bi-weekly sustaining programs starting Dec. 18. It has also signed Alexander Hass' gypsy orchestra, which will be given a sustainingspot. CHARLES MARTIN, who writes and directs "The News Parade" over WMCA, New York, has inaugurated a new Sunday night series of dramatizations of famous courtroom scenes titled "The Criminal Court." VAL SHERMAN, announcer of WBBM, Chicago, and Mrs. Sherman, are parents of a boy, born Nov. 28. DON CROSNOE, former announcer at KMOX, St. Louis, has become staff announcer at WGES, Chicago. EARLE TANNER, tenor, associated with KYW, Chicago, since its early days, was married to Miss Muriel Bohn of Chicago, December 1. IN THE CONTROL ROOM TRANSFER of Edwin S. Heiser, inspector in the old Chicago District of the former Radio Division, Department of Commerce, to Denver as acting inspector in charge of the new District No. 15 headquarters there, was announced Dec. 9 by the Radio Commission. He succeeds Glenn W. Earnheart, originally designated as acting inspector, who has left the service. The Commission shortly will anounce other changes in assignments and approximately 30 dismissals in line with the governmental economy program. WILLIAM D. TERRELL, chief of the division of field operations, Federal Radio Commission, has been assigned by the Commission to attend the Radio Distress Conference in Cleveland, Dec. 15, which is considering the handling of distress traffic on the Great Lakes. PAUL A. GREENE, former broadeasting manager of CBS, is now general manager of American Radio Systems, Inc., New York City. He is no longer with the Whetstone interests. H. J. GEIST, formerly with the RCA Victor Co., has joined the engineering staff of WCAU, Philadelphia. Radio Opens Fight On ASCAP (Continued from page 6) Pioneer Hill-Billies The Pickard Family, pioneer hill-billy troupe, has returned to WSM, Nashville, to be featured in a series of typical mountaineer programs for the International Oil Heating Co., of St. Louis, every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings. The Family began its radio work at WSM, now graduated to the 50 kw. class, and during the last few years has appeared in many network programs, including those of General Motors, Interwoven Stockings, Billiken Shores, Lucky Strike, Socony Sketches and the National Farm and Home Hour. It is reputed to be the earliest hill-billy act on the air. GEORGE LLEWELLYN, assistant radio inspector at Atlanta, temporarily . suspended recently by the Radio Commission, has been released from the service. The case of Walter Van Nostrand, inspector in charge at Atlanta, also temporarily suspended, has not yet been decided. Miss Mary L. Bell and Miss Gladys Fagan, both of the Atlanta office, have been reinstated. ANDREW D. RING, broadcast engineer of the Radio Commission, and William E. Downey, assistant chief, Division of Field Operations, visited the Chicopee Falls, Mass., plant of Westinghouse, Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, to inspect frequency standards, returning to Washington Dec. 2. THOMAS BAKER, chief engineer of Press Wireless, Inc., stationed at Hicksville, N. Y., was married in Washington, Dec. 10 to Frieda Bloumer, secretary to Louis G. Caldwell, Washington radio attorney, after a whirlwind courtship. J. T. McLAMORE, formerly with WIBX, Utica, N. Y., and before that with RCA Victor Co. in the engineering products division, has been appointed chief engineer of WDAS, Philadelphia. MEL LeMON, chief engineer of KMPC, Beverly Hills, Cal., has turned radio announcer for an hour each evening. He now announces George Hamilton's orchestra from the Club Airport Gardens every night. LYNWOOD McDONALD, Aberdeen, Md., has joined the enginering staff of WGAL, Lancaster, Pa. McDonald, a graduate of a Baltimore radio school, was formerly with WJSV, Alexandria, Va. J. ERNEST GRAY, chief engineer of WHBF, Rock Island, 111., recently purchased by the Roch Island Argus, will continue in that post. Robert Sinnett stays on as assistant chief engineer. JACK PROVIS has been appointed chief engineer of KID, Idaho Falls, Idaho. ing stations, 4 per cent of the revenue actually earned by the use of ASCAP music. "Mr. E. C. Mills, general manager of ASCAP, has now informed me that no action can be taken on this proposal until the next meeting of the board of directors of that organization, which, he says, may not be held until some time in January. "Inasmuch as all the members of the board of directors of ASCAP are in New York, there should be no reason for such a delay and it is difficult to interpret it as anything but an unfriendly attitude on the part of the members of that board of directors. "The situation calls for a frank discussion of the whole copyright matter, so that all broadcasters, whether they are members of the NAB or not, may understand just what has been going on. Since Sept. 1, I have been patiently negotiating with Mr. Mills in an attempt to revise the copyright contracts so as to eliminate from them what I consider the obvious evidence that they were made under racketeering pressure — the fact they levy a royalty on all revenues of stations instead of limiting that royalty to the revenues earned by the use of ASCAP music. Prompt Action Urged "IN THE LIGHT of the present delay, it is exceedingly important that the broadcasters — ■■ whether they are members of the NAB or not — take immediate steps to control the music used by their stations and to protect themselves against unwarranted interference by the American Society. Under the new contracts the broadcasting stations pay a heavy percentage of their entire revenues to that organization for the privilege of using all of the latter's music. At the same time, representatives of ASCAP have insisted that the use of their music by the broadcasting stations is destructive of that music. "Prompt action is imperative. Under the powers unanimously conferred on me by the St. Louis convention, I am therefore making the following urgent recommendations to all broadcasting stations: "First — Discontinue the use of all musical compositions the performance of which is particularly requested by members of ASCAP. This has specific reference to the efforts of publishers to have radio stations favor certain music published by them or to induce the orchestras and other musical organizations with which the broadcasters cooperate to give preference to such numbers. This 'plugging' has become a decided nuisance and has interfered with the proper compilation of radio programs. There is only one way to stop it, and that is to prohibit the playing of every composition which is the object of such 'plugging.' I shall appreciate it if cooperating broadcasters will inform me of the efforts which are being made to promote the use of specific compositions and particularly to inform their program directors, orchestra leaders, and others, of this prohibition — as well as the representatives of the publishers themselves, with the reason for the prohibition. "Second — Make no further requests for permission to play 'restricted' numbers. The increase in the 'restricted' list of ASCAP has caused many difficulties in the assembling of radio programs and is decidedly an unnecessary nuisance. In many cases, these restrictions have apparently been made chiefly to induce stations to ask such special permission. Often, this special permission is granted only in return for a promise on the part of the station to perform some other number in which the publisher is interested. That is one of the worst forms of 'plugging' to which the broadcasting industry has been subjected. Under the ASCAP contract, the publishing houses reserve the right to make these restrictions and so far, the broadcasters have apparently been helpless against this practice. But there is nothing in our contracts to require broadcasters to grant special favors to the publishers making such restrictions. The remedy lies in the hands of the broadcasters. Refusal to ask special permission to play numbers so restricted will help to lessen this nuisance. "Third — Bar the restoration of 'restricted' numbers during the life of the present contract. It is earnestly recommended to all broadcasters, that numbers placed upon the restricted list by publishers be kept there. Attempts by publishers to have these numbers performed after they have once been restricted should be nullified. All publishing houses should understand that once they have placed a composition on the restricted list, it will remain there, at least until ASCAP has given some evidence of a genuine desire to deal fairly with the broadcasters. Cooperation Necessary "THE COMPLIANCE of broadcasting stations with these prohibitions will do much to clarify the relations of the broadcasting industry to the copyright owners represented by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. As I said at the St. Louis convention, it is our earnest desire to cooperate with these publishers and composers. At my suggestion, the convention adopted a formal resolution recording our conviction that the 'composers and publishers of music are entitled to fair compensation measured in proportion to the actual use of their compositions.' So far the officials of ASCAP have made no effort to cooperate in carrying out that proposal and now the board of directors of ASCAP has deliberately declined to act. Whether, in that position, they represent the attitude of all the publisher and composer members of the Society, I do not attempt to judge. "The names of the members of this board of directors with their affiliations, follow: Louis Bernstein, Shapiro, Bernstein & Co.; E. F. Bitner, Leo Feist, Inc.; Saul Bernstein, Irving Berlin, Inc.; Robert Crawford, Crawford Music Co.; Walter Douglas, Donaldson, Douglas & Gumble, Inc.; Max Dreyfus, HarmsWarner Group (Witmark, Harms, Remick, deSylva, Brown & Henderson, Victoria Publishing Co., New World Music Co.) ; George Fisher, J. Fisher & Brothers; Walter Fisher, Carl Fisher, Inc.; Edgar Leslie, Clarke & Leslie Songs, Inc.; Jack Mills, Jack Mills, Inc.; E. H. Morris, Music Publishers Holding Corp.; Gustav Schirmer, G. Schirmer, Inc.; Gene Buck, Irving Caesar, Otto A. Harbach, Raymond Hubbell, Jerome Kern, Frede (Continued on page 27) Page 18 BROADCASTING • December 15, 1932